Atlanta Hawks continue hot streak in win over Los Angeles Clippers
The Atlanta Hawks traveled to the City of Angels to take on the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday and came away with another impressive road victory. The 107-98 win is the just latest in a string of impressive victories for the Eastern Conference-leading Hawks. Atlanta disposed of the Trail Blazers in Portland on Saturday and it would have been hard to blame them if they took the night off against the long and athletic Clippers team but that wasn’t the case. They improved their record against the West to 9-3 and are simply the hottest team in the NBA.
The first quarter wasn’t particularly great for Atlanta, only shooting 36%, but the Hawks did enough to contain Blake Griffin and Chris Paul and only trailed 26-21 at the end of the first. The second period was marginally better for streaking Hawks, but still had trouble finding a rhythm. Atlanta struggled find the bottom of the net but played lockdown defense and held Doc Rivers‘ Clippers to only 25% from the field. The lone highlight for Atlanta in the second frame was Kyle Korver who single handedly kept the Hawks close with three 3-pointers. The Hawks would trail by two, 46-44, headed to the locker room.
While the Hawks may have struggled in the first half, they certainly found their stride in the 2nd half and put the screws to the out-matched Clippers. Atlanta dominated the 3rd quarter and like most games, the Hawks go as their star point guard go. Jeff Teague was everywhere in the 3rd frame gathering up 12 points while dishing out 4 assists. It should be no surprise that when Teague plays that well, things start going right for Atlanta. They shot 60% and caused 8 turnovers in the third quarter which lead to the Hawks putting up 33 in the quarter and taking 77-69 lead into the 4th.
The 4th wasn’t anything special, other than a few highlight reel dunks, but the Hawks did a better job of taking care of the basketball. With only 2 turnovers, Atlanta never allowed L.A to go on a run and the crowd never had a chance to change the momentum. The Hawks would lead by as much as 17 with 6:03 left and were able to cruise to a 9 point win.
Paul Millsap had a tremendous night but no one was better than Jeff Teague on a night where he was matched up against one of the best PG’s in the NBA in Chris Paul. Teague ended the night with 20 points, 9 assists, 4 boards, and 4 steals. He struggled to get anything going in the first half but stayed aggressive in the 2nd half and things started falling and not just for Teague.
On a night where Horford wasn’t at his best (not that 16 points and 5 rebounds is bad), the Atlanta bench and, more specifically, Pero Antic stepped up. His 13 points (a season high) don’t stand out but he made shots when the Hawks needed them the most. Paul Millsap added 23 points and 8 boards with DeMarre Carroll right on his heels with 17 and 8. Everyone contributed and everyone was involved. Coach Budenholzer wouldn’t have it any other way.
The win puts the Atlanta Hawks at 26-8 for the season and 12-5 on the road. The team will now hop on a plane and fly across the country to take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night at Phillips Arena. Tip is at 7:30 and we will have a full preview of the game Wednesday morning.